1. Field of the Invention
The present application relates generally to infusion pumps for the delivery of therapeutic or diagnostic agents, and more specifically to techniques for selectively driving a piezo transducer to operate as a pressure pattern detector or an alarm generator.
2. Description of the Related Art
Some medical procedures and devices employ the infusion of therapeutic agents into living bodies over periods of time, and such procedures and devices have been used for the infusion of insulin or the like. One example of a device for the infusion of therapeutic or diagnostic agents being developed is an infusion pump. Development of such pumps and related components are part of an ongoing effort to improve techniques for infusing agents, such as, for example, those techniques and approaches described in U.S. patent application Ser. No. 11/548,238, filed Oct. 10, 2006, entitled “METHOD AND APPARATUS FOR INFUSING LIQUID TO A BODY.”
A given system for infusing agents may include multiple components, such as, for example, an infusion pump in operative communication with an external controller. Sometimes, however, the infusion pump may become separated from or otherwise not able to communicate with the external controller. For this and other scenarios, it would be desirable to provide a user with the option of controlling the pump via a manual input, such as, for example, a touch sensor. Such a manual input may include a piezo transducer. Accordingly, it would also be desirable to adapt the transducer to perform a function other than operating as a touch sensor, such as, for example, generating an alarm signal or the like.